Report: Mavs won't trade No. 1 pick, plan to draft Flagg
Don't expect a draft-night surprise from the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavs will not trade the No. 1 pick and are instead set on selecting former Duke star Cooper Flagg, sources told ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
Dallas won the right to draft first overall this year despite entering Monday's lottery with a 1.8% chance at the top selection - the fourth-worst odds of all 14 teams involved. It was the biggest jump of any team in the history of the NBA draft lottery.
The Mavericks would have been ineligible for the lottery had they beaten the Memphis Grizzlies in the second game of the Western Conference play-in tournament to make the playoffs.
The 6-foot-9 Flagg, long-presumed the No. 1 pick in this year's pool, offers Dallas a lifeline after a contentious second half of the regular season.
General manager Nico Harrison drew the ire of the fan base in February when he sent 25-year-old franchise superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package centered around Anthony Davis. Davis then aggravated a lower body injury in his Mavericks debut, which sidelined the 10-time All-Star for six weeks. During his absence, the Mavericks also lost nine-time All-Star Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL, which will likely keep the 33-year-old out for a significant portion of 2025-26.
It will be just the second time in franchise history that the Mavericks make the first choice in the draft. The team selected forward Mark Aguirre out of DePaul with the top pick in 1981.